September 2, 2025 ⢠44 mins
On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, sits down with Brandon Chubb, former NFL player and founder of Do Not Disturb Wellness. Chubb breaks down how he’s taking pro-athlete-level recovery practices like sauna, cold plunge, and massage and making them accessible to the public. The conversation dives into the business model behind wellness memberships, the cultural shift toward recovery as lifestyle, and why Atlanta is the perfect home for this new wave of wellness.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Athletes are one thousand percent apt with the intrinsic and
intangible skills, characteristics, and qualities they have to be great
entrepreneurs because you know about resilience, you know about law
term gains and not instantaneous gratification. You understand you're going
to fall more times than you jump. You understand discipline
(00:21):
and how to stick to a goal even when it
doesn't look like it's working out. Things like that allows
us to also have that transferable skill as great entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Everybody welcome to know that episode of buts Omi Hols,
Brandon Butler found the CEO of butter atl And today
we got somebody special in the building, the one only
mister Brandon Chubb. If do not disturb you got two
brands up in here. Man, how you feel?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm good man?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How are you good? I'm good man. Okay, We're gonna
have to make sure we do this right because you know,
people they know what's branding. Were talking about.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
We're in your world, So you're the brand and I'm
usually the Chubb.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Right, So I had Chubb And because brand is such
a common name, and you know, when I hear Brandon.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
In this setting, I know is you first, and then
I'm a look and if it's me, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Cool okay. So for those who's watching, I'm the one
without the muscles. So look, Brendan man, we got connected
through my got tied shot the Union fit hub Man,
you're doing some amazing workout here in Atlanta. We do
not disturbing everything else, but we do something specially here
on button Nomics. You know, I'm sure familiar with chat cheept.
So one of the things we do is we like
to ask chat ChiPT to write a bio and I
(01:25):
like to read it to the people that come on
and you tell me, is chat off on? You know
what I'm saying, because I don't know if you ever
like look yourself up on chat before, probably google yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Use chat GBT a lot. So I'm interested to see what.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Okay, this is what it came back with, it says.
Brandon Chubb is a former NFL linebacker turned wellness entrepreneur,
investor in community advocate. After retiring from professional football, Brandon
recognized the gap between the elite wellness experiences provide the
athletes and what was accessible to everyday people, especially in Atlanta.
The realization led him to co found Do Not Disturb,
a a mere wellness studio located in Atlanta and as
(02:00):
iconic poncity market. With Do Not Disturb, Brandon aims to
transform how the city approaches self care, physical recovery, and
mental clarity make an elite level wellness accessible and relatable.
In addition to his wellness endeavors, he also serves as
the Player Director for the NFL Players Union, where he
advocates for a personal and professional well being of athletes
during after their NFL careers. He is also the co
(02:21):
founder of Captain Partners, in Atlanta based venture capital firm
dedicated to supporting diverse entrepreneurs and innovative startups. Across his ventures,
Brandon brings intentionality, cultural insight, and community first mindset, leveraging
his NFL experience as an entrepreneuri vision to positively impact
the culture, wellness, business, and community of Atlanta and beyond.
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well said humbly. Well said, yeah, you got a lot
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Man's that's very very intriguing, right, how far technology has come.
And I wonder if it was pulling from my memory
because I do a lot of prompts for D and
D of you know, newsletters or you know, just thinking
about different problems.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Also with captain partners, also with the like that's that's impressive.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, so I'm gonna tell you there's a thing that was.
There was a thing. You know, a lot of people
don't know I was. I was. I was a techie
in a former life, so I mess around with all
this stuff. There was actually something that came out the
other day. It said, if you've ever shared a chat
with somebody, like you know, you actually like share chat
GBT chats. Yeah, if you actually share it and you
don't change the settings, it's public and it can be
found on Google. There's a certain search you can do,
(03:24):
so like people like going around like searching for like,
you know, husband and like wife and like divorcing because
a lot of people, I guess they're like writing out
the centers to their friends. Like so it's not gonna
find your personal stuff. But if you've been sharing anything,
you just got to make it private relse it can
show up on Google.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Just f y good to know. I pay that twenty
dollars description I'm under utilizing chat BT.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
That's why some people look, Yeah, y'all using that one
man you got you gotta.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Get twenty dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I know a lot of law firms that tell their
employees like, don't upload sensitive information. Yeah, because of that
memory aspect. But that's interesting, Yeah, man, it definitely makes sense.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Absolutely, man, So tell me, like, what was it? What
was the moment when you kind of realiz is it
the Willess community, especially what you doing was an athlete
was actually like a business opportunity.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Twenty nineteen, I retired. Twenty twenty one, I started working
for the NFL Players Association. This is in the midst
of COVID as well, and I still had the same body,
I still had the same needs at two acls in
the league, so being able to recover was a paramount
thing for me and a priority. And then also with
the NFLPA, I travel fifty sixty percent of my time
(04:25):
for work.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So you're crunched up.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
On an airplane, You're in a hotel that probably doesn't
have an ideal gym, doesn't have any type of recovery,
You're sleeping not in your bed right up at the
early hours in ubers, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And a lot of the travels in New York.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Jets Giants are two of my teams, and when I'm
in New York, man, it's like you could do anything.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I call New York the playground. Right.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
They had these wellness studios a fault. This entrepreneur named
Stephen Truck, he has s ten training up in Chelsea,
and probably around this same time he was building out
this recovery studio ancillary to his gym. Right, so he
trains like these high end New York clients like models
and rappers and things like this. And he built these
(05:09):
like private suites that had an infrared signa had a
tub that you could pull with ice, or you could
do just a warm bath with like epps and salt
or whatnot.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
And the esthetic was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And so when I would go to New York, I'd
always stop in his place just to get my recovery
session in trying to emulate anything I could from what
I had as a player.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I played at weight for US for five years and
then four years in the NFL. All these facilities had
right outside our locker room asauna, cold plunch. You had
the training room, massage table, a chiropractor came every other day, right,
so you had this at your fingertips. And once you're
no longer an athlete, you no longer have access. So
my point being, I was going to New York, let's
(05:48):
call it, every other month, going to S ten doing
the recovery stuff, and I would come back home and
be like, damn, like, it's nothing like this here. So
if I wanted to do that, I would have to
go to at the time JJU just to sit in
the code up. Then I would have to go to
I have a YMCA membership in Bucket. I would go
there to sit in the sauna. I would go to
(06:08):
Floasis to sit in the float tank, and then I
would do a house call for a massage. Should get
the massage aspect and one that's not feasible, right we
talked about before this podcast started death by a thousand cuts,
but then two like you only got twenty four hours
in a day. If you're sleeping ten hours of that,
right and working another eight to nine hours of that,
you don't have time to do four hours of wellness.
(06:29):
And so the inspiration from the New York trips and
also seeing the white space in Atlanta, I understood that
there was a need for this. And then post pandemic
Mackenzie did a study people are prioritizing wellness more than ever,
and the definition of wellness has changed. Right, It's less
about how strong I am or how how many ABS
I have, and it's more about like do I feel
(06:50):
great when I wake up? Can I go to bed
on time? Am I crashing at two pm? How many celsius?
Can I not drink today?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
To make it through the day and then also be
able to like double down on wellness tourism. So for me,
when I go travel, I'm picking a hotel and I'm
looking at their pictures of the gym online because I'm like,
if it's just you know, ad hoc gym with elliptical
and weights that go up to twenty five pound dumbells,
(07:19):
I probably can't get a work out there, right, So
like what does the gym look like? And then the
second thing is is they have a spa? What's in
the spa? Is it or a sign in the spa? Do
they have a cold tub or a code bath in
the spa?
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Right?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Those are all main value points for me when I
book my travel, and a lot of this through Marriott
to try to keep the BOMBO points up. But like
if there is a hotel that is a differentiator with
their amenities, then I will literally forfeit the opportunity to
accumulate bomboid points and go spend at that hotel. My
point being a lot of people also are doing wellness
(07:53):
tourism where they're staying or doing a staycation or visiting
a city, and they want all these amenities in their hotel.
And so yeah, I think twenty thirty the status out
wellness tourist will be a one point six twenty dollars market.
So do not disturb. How could we give the public
access to wellness all under one roof? And then also
being an ideal location light Pont City Market where you
(08:15):
have the flats residents right above us, you have Signal
House right next door, you have Scout short term apartment
rentals in the parking lot. And then right across Old
four Ford Park you got Northern Line, you got glenn
Iris Lofts, you got all these other places that can
benefit from us being an amenity right so residential amenity,
(08:36):
tourism amenity, hotel amenity, and then also just being in
a high dissed area where you have foot traffic, where
you have people visiting off the belt line because they're
health conscious and they just got to run in or
they just did a workout at Union fit or the
form and being able to attract all those demographics to
(08:56):
give them a place to one call home feel inclusive
with it. And that's the community angle and why we
prioritize community, but also have it elevated where now they're
taking wellness from a proactive approach and not reactive. We
don't look or feel like a doctor's office, right, and
I think that's a very reactive setting, right. We're not
sterile and white walls and very minimalistic. You come and
(09:20):
do not disturb, and you feel like you're in Italy
or France, you name it, right, You put yourself in
that position of where this brings you to. But also
because it's elevated, you want to stay well even if
you're not hurt. You want to just stay on top
of your wellness. You want to just get a massage
and continue to feel great starting off the weekend versus
I rolled my ankle and pick a ball, let me
go sit in a codeub. That's a very reactive approach,
(09:42):
and so we built it intentionally with that in mind
to make sure that one we're attracting all these demographics.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
But then two, it feels like your third space. It
feels like your amenity to your apartment building. It feels
like that's the reason.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You told Scout Hotel instead of the four seasons or
instead of the fourth across the street, because you can
walk downstairs a D and D And I think that
is the inspiration behind it and why I want it
to be in wellness to the forefront, especially in my
backyard of Atlanta. You know, the South is not wellness
for it or really health conscious. And I think the
trend and the tailwinds will start making its way down here.
(10:17):
But we wanted to do it in a way that
one we're the premier studio, like chat GBT said, but
also doing it at a way that we can bring
our own culture to it. When you think a Nike, right,
I'm wearing Nikes right now. Are they the most comfortable shoe?
Probably not, But my favorite rapper was wearing Forces. My
favorite athlete, Mike Vick, was a Nike athlete, right, Like
(10:39):
growing up, Nike was the culture. So now when I
have disposable income, I still buy Nikes because I'm a
part of that culture and I want people to see
do not disturb as that culture when it comes to wellness,
not just I have to do it, it's a I
want to do it. I want to be associated with
D and D instead of the three other places I
could go to get the similar offerings.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, I mean, like to your point, culture is definitely
the culture is definitely moving towards more wellness. I think
more health, you know, people to be more conscious of it.
They're making decisions based off of it. I love what
you talk about with like even wellness tourism, right, Like
the fact that people are starting to look at even
the amenities these different hotels and stuff provide or know
what's around and like even if spot y'all are in,
like to your point, there's a lot of different residential
(11:20):
areas around there, so it's accessible because that's just for
those that don't know like that part of Atlanta, you know,
to kind of move around those spaces. You don't really
necessarily need a car inside all spaces too, right, So
it's walkable as accessible, and like those are the kind
of places that we need, not just in Atlanta, but
like you know, in our communities all over here. So
let me ask you, like, where does the name do
not Disturb come.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
From, Yeah, going back to the NFLPA experience, Like I'm
always on call.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I can't turn my phone off and put in on
do not to sturby?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Where else I'll come back to five miss texts and
probably ten miss emails, right, Like, there's some urgency to
what I do. So how can I mentally have a
restorative escape and a physical escape. I can go into
a space that has wellness all under one roof, pick
what I want to do, and we have services that
are as little as thirty minutes. You could be up
(12:08):
there in you know, three hours time and be out.
But how could I give myself a restorative space to
put my body on do not disturbed, put my mind
on do not disturbed? Because I necessarily can't do it
with my phone, So I cannot physically get into a
space where they do not disturbed setting, you know, just
turns on and then as soon as I walk out,
I'm back into the real world.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I'm back into the hustle bust.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Of Atlanta and pot City Market and whatever the day's
journey you know, has in store for me.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
And so that's really where the name came from. And
being able to physically embody that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
In an elevated place that kind of speaks for itself.
You know there's places that have speakers in assignas or
TVs in the room. We want you to literally be
with your thoughts and be in the comfort and tranquil
oasis of what we design so that you can't hit
that restorative aspect of wellness too, not just the physical
(13:00):
recovery and the physical wellbeing of it.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You know, you mentioned working at the NFLPA is the
player directly, Like for those don't know, like what does
that role entail? But then also how does your work
with players kind of influence what you're doing with D
and D.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, so what that role is.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I'm a liaison essentially between the locker rooms that represent
an NFLPA headquarters. Right, So everything we do is governed
by a collective bargaining agreement. Our next CBA aspires in
twenty thirty so the current one we are on has
four hundred and five hundred pages of compliance benefits all
these things that we negotiate with with the NFL. So
(13:47):
one is keeping players aware of that disseminating information. We
have annual team meetings that we go to all thirty
two ball clubs. But then also it's addressing real time
concerns right, real time benefit questions, real times or compliance
issues with the clubs and how long they can practice right.
And as a union we fight for three things. Wages,
working hours, working conditions. So it's making sure that we're
(14:09):
aligned with the NFL clubs that are one putting on
these practices and scheduling these schedules for the players in
season and off season, but also making sure they're getting
paid the minimum salary or getting paid things that are
digressive to the union for the people who sacrifice before them,
and also enhancing our current gains right, making sure our
members are a collective body of people who are all aligned.
(14:34):
That doesn't mean we all have to agree on the same thing,
but all aligned and informed on NFLPA and union business.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
And then how does that influence how you look at
D and D.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So it just gives me more access to be in
the buildings to see the innovative technology on the wellness
side that these clubs, with these state of the arc
locker rooms are continuing to build.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And what is that the forefront of wellness?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
What is the forefront of innovation and recovery and just
getting a first person POV. My interaction with the players
is all strictly union business, right. It has nothing to
do with D and D or any of my other endeavors.
But it does get me into a locker room that
when I was last there in twenty nineteen versus what
it looks like in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
You see that difference.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Difference, right.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
And then NFLPA we do an annual scorecard where the
members all ranked their clubs on facilities, cafeteria.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Oh yeah, I've seen it. It's like the Falcons just
got one, like like great facilities or something like beautiful.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I was at Flowery Branch yesterday, beautiful locker room because
of that scorecard. Right. But when I did a pro
day at Falcons in twenty sixteen, that locker room like
what I saw yesterday, Right. And so it's making sure
that you know, I'm as an entrepreneur also having my
ear to the street and seeing what is implemented in
these world class facilities for these world class athletes and
(15:53):
being able to say, all right, we're on the right track,
We're doing X, Y and Z the right way, and
making sure the public has access to that through because
they can't go to Flowery Branch, Yeah, because they can't
go to two to two Republic Drive, Allen Park, Michigan, right,
or whatever facility that is out there.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, that's good, But I'm gonna say, man, like, when
you say world class and lead athletes, knuckle line, sounds
expensive and I know that's something that y'all kind of
balance and manage out too, right, So like, how do
you kind of balance to make sure that it's still
accessible to the general republic because who didn't play in
the league, who didn't make a bunch of money, who
don't you know, have it? They're just you know, normal
everyday people, right, Like, how do you make sure it's
(16:28):
still accessible to them while kind of still keeping that
premium feel too.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think the biggest part of accessibility is feeling included,
feeling inclusive.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Right when you go in to do not disturb, you
feel the culture.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
We don't have hashtag black owned anywhere, we don't advertise
it being a black owned business, but you feel that
from our practitioners, to our employees, to the way we
do business. I think feeling inclusive of a brand is
one point of accessibility. The second point is our business
model was underwrit to be able to have a certain
price point and a certain membership model and other ancillary
(17:07):
lines of revenue. Right, so there's a membership cohort that
is a sizable chunk of our business.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And you talked about Concity market.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
People don't really have cars there. Moniker is internally is
like if they can walk, they could be a member
because they can come frequent they can utilize the services,
they can take advantage of the unlimited membership, they can
take advantage of the base membership, which is four times
a month, and so that is one part of the
business that allows the rest of the parts to have
(17:39):
a little bit more will go room. Right, So one
off session starts at forty five dollars. Fifty minute sessions
is sixty bucks. First timers get twenty five percent off.
If you're a member, it pays for your membership, pays
for yourself after a second visit, right, and then members
also receive fifteen to twenty percent off depending on what
tier you are on all.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Our ancillary services.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So if I'm an unlimited member, I'm getting twenty percent
off on the side at one hundred and thirty five bucks,
we're talking about you know, one hundred and five dollars massage, right,
And so that is another way to drive value by
also making people feel like, all right, this is a
place for me and not having gimmicky stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
A lot of places you might go to might have
a three hundred thousand dollars red light bed or two
hundred thousand dollars hyper barriage chamber. And if I don't
feel validated in that amenity being or that piece of
equipment being of value add to the wellness ecosystem we've built,
then it's not implemented, right, because those things are also
(18:35):
a part of your business model that you have to
underwright of how how can I get the ROI back
on that float tank? And for example, right, and then
using float tanks as an example because it's really real
life example.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
But our current massage room was built.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
In the construction documents to be a float tank room
with two float tanks. Float tanks are around fifty sixty
thousand dollars, So that's one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
of equipment for you know, three hundred square feet. I
did four or five dinners in our space when it
was just a white box with just people in the
community reaching out before we opened on LinkedIn and saying, hey,
(19:10):
like doing this founder dinner.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Who wants to join me.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'll cater some food, come check out and learn what
I'm trying to build that do not disturb.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
And this was probably nine months leading up to before
we opened.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
So we had four or five of these, and I
had a projector I would put on the white wall
and it would just go through all the renderings that
the architect had designed and I would kind of just
walk through people through the vision, right like, this relax
room is going to be in this corner we're standing
in one of the private contrast suites.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
That float tank.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Room will be behind this wall that we're going to demolition,
that bathroom will be right here, and these columns will
be hidden and moving throughout the space so you won't
even notice we got three columns in our suites. And
my point of doing that was want to get real
time feedback, get real time reaction, understand and talk to
potential customers and just the consumer at large. And one
(19:59):
thing I got from that was I would say we
have saunas, code plunges and float tanks and everybody'd be like, Oh,
that's cool, but what's the float tank?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
I heard that like ten times, and I.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Was like, well, maybe I shouldn't be spending one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars on float tanks because what is
the ROI and what is the real opportunity to really
make that back and then have some margin on top,
and so things like that. Intentional decisions but also doing
the work, going out into the field and really talking
to people allowed your question for us us to not
have a two hundred thousand dollars piece of equipment that
(20:32):
we now have to pass on to the consumer, which
allows us to be a more accessible which allows us
to have very competitive pricing amongst our competitors. But also
you're still paying for the esthetic and the environment and
the intentionality. But it's not a two hundred percent difference.
It might be a five percent difference, right. And another
(20:53):
one was I was just talking an entrepreneur that we
were bouncing around Atlanta today showing her different things. He's
allowing her to get insight from other entrepreneurs on she
wanted to open up a brick and mortar, and she
asked me a question on the way here, She was like,
what was one of your mistakes?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
And for me, it was our pricing model.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
To your point, I was naive to what the consumer
and the consumer behavior in Atlanta was. Again, this do
not dis third model, like the esthetic and the way
it looks and even the way it's built out was
based off of business in Chelsea, right, and Chelsea disposable
income and Atlanta disposable income or worlds apart. New York's
(21:39):
a different beasts, right, And so one thing I was
naive to was the price point. He was charging one
hundred dollars for fifty minutes or one hundred and five
dollars for fifty minutes for the same private contrast, room
we charged sixty dollars for. But grand opening was August sixteenth.
I had a grand opening party, family and friends August fifteenth,
(21:59):
and our membership price was double what it is right now.
That night, I couldn't go to sleep, and I was like,
I think our pricing is too high, five hundred dollars memberships.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't think anybody has an appetite for that. And
again it goes.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Back to really being outside, talking to people, being where
your feet are beating the street, because that family or
friends event that night before, you have your closest supporters, right,
If anybody's gonna support you is those people in that room.
And I would say, our memberships are this or that's
(22:33):
how much it costs to this because people ask like, oh,
what's a membership or things like that, and you could
just read their body language. So he'd be like, how
much is a membership? And I would say, you know,
unlimited is five hundred dollars. Our base membership four times
a month is three hundred dollars. Cool, how much does
a T shirt? Right?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
That's the response you would get. And you know, as
a self aware person, you have enough of those responses
and enough of those reps that night that it kept
me up till three in the morning the next the
next day, right, And so slash our memberships in half
because I realize we're not New York. Our prices are
New York based, and we're not a New York business. Right.
(23:13):
The Atlantic consumer and the behavior is different. And so
all these are intentional, but also self aware of the
naivity that I came into the business with, and also
addressing that in real time, still listening to customers, we
have secret shoppers at D and D all the time
I've been consultant Darnelle Presley. We get people in and
we got a survey that says, hey, this is how.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Much this cost. What are you willing to pay for it?
This is how much our memberships are. It's this price
too high or too low. If it's too high, what
is the price that you think would be palatable? And
things like that are real quantifiable data that now we
can go and look at our price and model and say, oh,
we weren't way off like we thought we were. This
product is great and the people are willing to pay
for it. So let's just continue to double down on
(23:55):
what we're doing, continue to build D and D, continue
to bring community forward, and you.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Know, you'll you'll you'll reap the benefits of that later
down the road.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yeah, man, I mean you know what you're what you're
talking about is the idea of again customer feedback and
just iterating on ideas, and I mean that applies. I
think it applies against across all businesses because a lot
of times too with founders, if you're not careful, you
kind of build something in a silo, and you know,
for lots of different reasons, Like I think one of
the biggest reasons people tend to do it is because
there's phrase somebody's gonna take the idea to run off
with it. I'm like, nobody's gonna take your idea for
(24:23):
the most part. But being able to get that feedback
to your point and really help you building something that
actually you know people want, Like at the end of
the day, that's also really the definition of marketing. It's
like doing that work, that research, kind of figuring out
what it is and until you can get that right
product market fit. Because if not, you can do all
that stuff and pull all this stuff together. But all
of a sudden, if it's like this big reveal, I
(24:44):
kind of call it the big bang, right, people are like, well,
I didn't really want that, I didn't really need it
like that, and you actually find out I actually just
wanted this thing. You're like, that could to your point,
like you use like the examples with the the float
the float bands like like, yeah, you could spend that money,
but people but yeah, I also gotta edge people they're
not necessarily looking for that. They might be looking for
that in other markets, but is Atlanta that kind of
(25:04):
market where people are really looking for that kind of service,
and because you didn't invest in that, that able you
to help manage the cost. So you have to pass
that on. But had you been ahead and made that investment,
because you hadn't had those conversations, because you hadn't brought
in people from the community, like, then again you would
have been in a whole different situation.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And so just the lesson for this for people that
are just building stuff in general is to make sure
you're talking to your customers and not just waiting until
the end because you had the ability to still talk
to them while you kind of still had that white
box approach, right, and you were like, actually, you know,
we could always always say you can make it more
complex later.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It's like my mom, so you can always put more
more seasoned in it, exactly, but you can't take it out.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Yeah, I love it, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
So it's like that's a lesson that you learned, yea.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
And it was a great lesson because massage just now
what that room is being utilized for, yeah, is on
a her margin basis our most popular service and our
most valuable service. And I'm glad that I had the humility,
but also the four site to be able to iterate
in real time.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
And what does that look like for brick and mortar.
It's being able to your point at the seasoning.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Later you can always add more, but you can't put
the toothpaste back into tube, right. And this is you know,
build out calls, construction, general contractors permits like so this
is a real intentionality that you have to have so
you don't get to that point where now you're just
sitting on something that's burning.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
A hole in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
And so I was, you know, grateful to have entrepreneurs
that I could listen to, whether in real life and
have conversations like we're having right now or podcast or
you know. I was in business school when I built
this idea and was creating this and building out with
architects and signing leases and things like that, so I
was able to workshop this through classes. I was able
(26:46):
to also talk to two hundred other students who were
like minded and had diverse opinions and then diverse minds
right like I'm with mckensey consultants and baning consultants and
private equity guys and ETA guys who want to buy
a business from a small business owner, right, And so
being able to really workshop this in real time was
really a blessing because a lot of people don't have that.
(27:08):
And to your point, going through that entrepreneurship like journey
and learning, you also learn that, like, no one's really
gonna steal your business idea. They may be, but this
is my baby and it's hard. So unless they really
care about it, just because it's a great idea doesn't
mean someone's gonna want to do it exactly, because that
shit's hard and it's a lot of sacrifice and it's
(27:28):
a financial investment, it's a mental investment, it's a social investment,
and so like unless they really really are passionate about
it like you and really care, they're probably going to
be like.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Damn, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
There will is more to spend for like five minutes,
and they're gonna be like, fuck it, I don't want
to do it. Right, And you still have that still
visibility to get the real time feedback, so stealth mode
isn't always the best.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Now, you also do some stuff with the Captain Partners
you keept in the VC. You do some stuff like that,
like like what did you kind of learn through that
journey of just investing, like what do you look for
in founders and companies that involved in but what do
you also kind of learned about business as you've gotten
more involved in this.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, So we started investing through SPVs special purpose Vehicles.
And the catalyst for that was I was on my
way out the league. But also realize one the word
private equity wasn't even in my vocabulary until I was
two years removed from college. And then once I learned
(28:36):
what the word private equity meant, I was like, Ah,
this is how people get to afford to get their
children to wait for us. Right, this is how people
get to afford nice houses or this ecosystem that private
equity opens up, Right, this is the play. And so
I wanted to be a part of that. And I
saw the locker room as like one of the largest
concentrations of capital. Right, if you think about the salary cap,
(28:58):
I think this year, the salary cap has two orldren
and six t two million dollars, fifty three guys in
that locker room combined, or making two hundred and sixty
two million dollars of salary. Right, That's how I thought
about it, and so one that was an angle, but
then two at the same time, this is twenty nineteen,
Whooped the wearable and these other like innovative tech wearables
(29:19):
were starting to hit the locker room. I remember Whooping
twenty nineteen was coming through with the NFLPA was coming
through and just dropping woop straps. In the middle of
the locker room was Saint here Trott's right. And Tonal was
another company that was coming out around that time, and
I remember seeing a meta ad on Instagram and Tonal
wasn't even advertising the product. They were advertising that Steph
Curry and Kevin Durant were investors. Yeah, So I was like,
(29:42):
all right, well, you have this cohort of guys who
have a large allocation of capital at a young age,
so they're not that risk averse. They can take big swings,
which venture capital entails. And then you also have this
platform where founders want to meet athlete. Athletes can be
value additive to these sports tech wearable companies because they
(30:06):
could be product testers, they could be free promo. They
can essentially the endorsement model that marketing entails, but with equity, right,
and so me and my buddies put our capital together
did twelve SPVs invested in these innovative tech companies and
so that's how Captain Partners started. My co founder was
a Captain with me at wait for us, Jordan Garside,
(30:27):
and so that's the name Captain. And what I learned
from that is like, founders are the sauce, right, Like,
you got the best idea in the world. If your
execution i e. Your founding team isn't great, it's gonna
fall flat on his face. I'm reading super Punk right
now for the second time. And Uber wasn't the first
(30:47):
ride sharing company. It was zimmer Ride and it was
I think called super Cab or something like that. It
was like two other competitors that were doing peer to
peer riode sharing. Uber was just doing black cars and
then Travis Travis, the CEO, set in a zimmer Ride
one day and was like, oh, we need to be
doing Peter peer right. So my point being the founder
(31:08):
or the founders and the founding team are really the magic.
And then also understanding market dynamics, right, like sometimes you're
just too early or sometimes you're late to the dance, right.
And there's a plethora of companies that had ideas that
are now thriving today. They were just five years ahead
of time or they were five years past the past
(31:29):
the mark, and so really doubling down on founders and
then also understanding like the marketing dynamic or market dynamics,
and so now taking that into my entrepreneur venture and
we're not a startup, right, We're not on this crazy
y Combinator growth rate where we got to grow three
percent week over week or have this you know, crazy metric,
because we're also not venture capital bats, so they're not
(31:52):
expecting hockey stick returns. But at the same time understanding
that the train starts and starts with me and not
saying that I'm the reason that dn D is a
great experience, because I don't want to be the magic.
I don't want you to come and do not disturb
because you might run into Brandon. I want you to
come and do not disturb because you understand the product
and you love the product. But I also understand that
(32:13):
I got to lead a team of five people plus
a manager to understand the same value a mission and
vision that I built do not disturb with when they
have no incentive.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
To care, right, Like, it's just it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Right, small business, like they have no incentive to care
as much as I do and they never will. But
understanding that I can at least give guardrails and eliminate
the gray to allow them to flourish to the best
at their execution to perform what we need to perform,
one of those being a hospitable environment. I want you
to come and do not disturb and feel like you
just checked in at the RITZ, right. I want you
(32:47):
to come and do not disturb and go to the
rooms and realize, like, wow, that was a great experience
and it felt clean, and it felt like this was
just built yesterday.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
I want you to go to the massage room.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
And be like, he has the two, three, four best
besides their I've ever got my massage by whether I'm
a ballerina or an NFL football player or six nine
basketball player or you know, a seventy two year old
senior citizen. Right, And being able to have a service
for everyone that everyone can feel included and feel like
they got value out of So the investing experience has
(33:18):
just made me so much more aware of the founder
right or founders?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, absolutely, man, I mean again, it sounds like y'all
doing something really amazing over there. Like you think, as
more and more players you know, come through the league
and start looking for their next opportunities, do you see
more players getting involved in things like investing in entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yeah, investing for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
You see a lot of that with NBA players just
because of the contract sizes, but even NFL guys or
starting their own vcs or doing a lot of angel investments.
I also do believe that athletes, especially professional athletes, because
of what it's to get there, are a thousand percent
apt with the intrinsic and intangible skills, characteristics and qualities.
(34:02):
They have to be great entrepreneurs. Right, because you know
about resilience, You know about law term gains and not
instantaineous gratification. You understand you're going to fall more times
than you jump, right. You understand discipline and how to
stick to a goal even when it doesn't look like
it's working out.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
You understand punctuality right, as trivial as that is. You
understand how to be present and show up and be
on time. I remember in college coach classon our head coach,
she had this thing called deacon time, which means me
starts at seven am. It really starts at six forty five, right,
Deacon time is fifteen minutes early. And even at six
forty five, the last person that comes to that meeting
(34:45):
is also late, right because the meeting has already started.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Everyone else is here. And so things like that that
are just like intrinsically within us allows us to also
have that transferable skill as great entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
And I was actually and I want to I'm.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Curious your thoughts, but I was actually talking to someone
when D and D at first opened because I was
always there.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Right, you're still building a team.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I want to be present to hear customer feedback in
real time and really understand what is going on, how
the customer journey differs than the customer journey that was
in my mind. What are some gaps that because it's
my baby, I don't see that customers would be obvious to,
but I'm oblivious to.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
And my point being.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Because I have that athlete mindset, like it had to
be perfect.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
You know, I wore myself to the bone.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I really burnt out right, and it's just because I
wanted to take exactly how I became an NFL football
player and do it as a business owner, and I
think there has to be some type of balance because again,
we're just so apt to be able to do this.
Like I was playing football at six years old with
the mindset I'm playing in the NFL. That's like a
(35:56):
point zero zero one percent chance of all six year
olds that have that same thought might be even smaller
than that. But for some reason, even as a two
star recruit out of Hillgrove High School going to wait Forest,
the smallest Power five school in the country, being a
red shirt, and then not starting my freshman year, and
then somehow being a three year starter and then going
undrafted to the NFL. Right like all these it could
(36:19):
have ended at any moment moments, and I still persevered,
right Like that has something to do with what you
can be as an entrepreneur. And I'm not the only
athlete that's gone through that, right, It's a lot of
people that are in that same position, which is why
I think a lot of athlete led businesses and founded
businesses will continue to sprout up and will become more
(36:40):
ubiquitous because athletes are also understanding and more adapt or
more apt and aware of this game could be taken
from me at any moment, especially football one hundred percent
contact sport, one hundred percent injury rate.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Right, Like, I again, I'm a wait foresce. I'm in
the wait Force Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
And I went undrafted and then I never got hurt
in college, never saw a training room. And then my
first or my second OTA practice and the NFL for
the Detroit Lions, I tear my ACL and then I
do it again two years later in Carolina, Right, Like,
can't predict that. It's no crystal ball. Right, if I
told me that at eighteen that that would happen, I'd
(37:15):
be like, Oh, that's not me.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I've never been hurt.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
Right, But then also understanding that, like I got forty
more years to make money, Like if this ends at
twenty six, I got forty more years where I still
got to find a dying right, and so how can
I set myself up? And my point being, I think
athletes are more aware of that now because a lot
more visibility is put through podcasts or documentaries on this,
(37:38):
but also because they're now entrepreneurs per se in college,
they're willing and dealing on nil deals, They're understanding their leverage,
they're understanding their platform and what they bring to these
universities or these NFL clubs or professional clubs that they're
playing for. And so now they're having more of a
transitive mindset to say, all right, what am I doing next?
(38:01):
I could play for ten more years or ten more weeks,
what am I doing next? And being able to really
affect their own destiny.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Well again, and I think for a long time too,
people have hurt the narratives. You know, they've heard the
stats about oh, you know, this is what happens in
athletes have careers, and I mean, look, these guys, these
a lot of these guys are very smart. They're very
aware of this stuff. And again, and that might have
been how it had been for a while, that might
have been a trend. But if anything, I would argue
to say, like it's probably trending downwards because people are
(38:27):
more aware because the parents who are helping to get
these kids into schools and into the league and opportunities,
they're also aware and they're also doing things. So I think, yeah,
the day of the like the athlete just kind of
like not knowing what's going on and being taken advantage of.
I mean, you're going to have situations that happened. But
I think there's definitely just more awareness and people to
the same point they're saying theirselves, Okay, like look, I
know the stats, I know that, you know, this is
(38:49):
a finite time which I'm be able to do this.
I'm able to do it longer. That's great, But like
to your point, what am I going to do the
next twenty thirty forty years? Right, Like, what am I
going to spread that out versus traditional people that again
that are work and kind of like have a longer life,
longer life span when it comes to their career, and
that there's definitely you know, second and third lives after that.
And I think people are you know, especially now with
Nils and everything else, they're they're treating this thing like
(39:10):
a business. They're understanding that even what they're doing and
they're playing a game that's a business, and they're kind
of transitioning out man. So no, like it's a lot
more awareness. Like let me ask you man, as we
get reaised, like start wrapping us up, like like what
do you think that what do you want people to
experience when they come into D and D that they
can't find anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
First, I mean our mission is creating a tranqui oasis
where a community can develop a wellness routine and prioritized wellness.
What I want your experience as soon as you walk
through those doors is I'm no longer in pot City Market,
let alone Atlanta. I'm in again France. I mean wherever
your mind takes you. And then also understanding that I
(39:50):
am at the control of my own health and wellness right,
and so being empowered to want to do contract right
Soigna and co Plunch, being empowered to want to do
iv therapy, being empowered to want to get a massage,
and feeling like there is more that can come from this,
(40:12):
right from the health side, from the wellness side, from
the social side, from the longevity side. And I want
people to realize that this can be something that's ubiquitous
as a gym, right, Like we've evangelized fitness to the
point like it's almost a no brainer that you have
to have a gym membership. When I walked in here today,
I said, where you work out? Right, you never brought
(40:35):
up fitness or anything. I just assumes you had a
gym membership. Everyone has a gym membership, and so I
think in you know next half decade or so, everyone
will have a wellness membership, and I want them to
feel empowered, to feel like one, I can develop a
wellness routine and prioritize it just as much as I
prioritize lifting weights or running on the treadmill. But two,
(40:55):
I want them to feel like they belong, like do
not disturbs an a franchise, yea, this isn't you know
some box. I got the playbook from someone else, and
I'm at the behest of their decisions and their rules
right Like, I want them to feel a part of
our community because everything we do, from the merch we
sell to what we retail, Like our candles is Lindwood Court.
(41:17):
She makes our fragrance and she's in Citizens Apply on
the second floor. A black owned woman own the water
we give away for free beauty water, black owned woman
own right like all these intentional decisions that aren't free
for us right in our call centers, but allow our
community to be a part of something bigger than just
the D and D experiences. I'm supporting other businesses through
(41:39):
D and D. I'm supporting other therapists and practitioners through
D and D, and I want that to be an
intrinsic thought when people walk through our double doors and
also when they leave our double doors. Right, I think
that's the most important part. I talk to my staff
all the time. It's like, you could be the most
hospitable person in the world. You can be great, you
can have a conversation with a wall, you can you
(41:59):
can be right. But if they go to that room
and the signa wasn't hot, or you know, the trash,
the towels from the last person was in there, like
that can kill everything you just built up. So I
also want people to feel like this is a world
class experience that allows for me to want to be
proactive and want to prioritize and want to develop a
routine because it's a place I feel like I can
(42:21):
do that and the consistency is there and the hospitality
is there.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
That's dope.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Man.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
We'll congratulations on building next space. I don't know, you
have to sec the space to open Juniper. So yeah,
as we get ready to wrap this up in and
tell them how can they support you, how can they
find D and D like, give them all the things.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
So do not disturb. We're at Pont City Market.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
We're on the ground floor facing North Avenue, So right
now's to Pancake Social in between Panca Social and the
leasing office, so come visit us. We also do not
disturb atl dot com is our website. You can book online.
If you book online, use code butter nomics. Okay, twenty
five percent off your first visit butter nomics, twenty five
percent off your first visit of a private contrast room,
(42:57):
fifteen percent off your first massage. So those are two
ways you can support us. Also, we have merch we
sell online now, so we have a Shopify account. We
have I think some of the most culturally relevant merch
that you don't wear just a support you wear because
it's cool. So you can find that on our website
as well. And then our Instagram is at do not disturb,
so follow share with your friends. We'll do many events
(43:21):
in the community that we'll be free, so you can
be a part of that as well. But I think
the biggest is, you know, just com pot City Market.
We validate parking level two and level three for up
to ninety minutes, so don't let that be at the turret.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
And then do not Disturb atl and do not Disturb Instagram.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Hey man, cold button Nomics. Use Cold button Nomics. Look man,
congratulations brand on everything. Man, it sounds like an amazing place. Look,
I'm little, I'm gonna go and check it out. And
I was started thinking about it like now, like yeah,
I need to go pull up over the.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, I told you. We've got that old four forward
pass right. So union fit as the gym arm and
wear the wellness arm. So whenever you go to hit
tie up again and get some reps in, come to
D and D right after it's a three minute walk
on the belt line.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
He sounds like a plan. Man, we'll look again. Congratulations
on everything, on all the great work you're doing. D
and D in with you much success. When that said,
y'all we out. That's the pod you've been listening to
button Nomics and I'm your host, Brandon Butler. Got comments, feedback?
Want to be on the show. Send us an email
today at hello at butternomics dot com. Butter Nomics is
produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by Ksey Pegram, with
(44:21):
marketing support from Queen and Nikki. Music provided by mister Hanky.
If you haven't already hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot Atl. Listen to
betteron Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Athletes are one thousand percent apt with the intrinsic and
intangible skills, characteristics, and qualities they have to be great
entrepreneurs because you know about resilience, you know about law
term gains and not instantaneous gratification. You understand you're going
to fall more times than you jump. You understand discipline
(00:21):
and how to stick to a goal even when it
doesn't look like it's working out. Things like that allows
us to also have that transferable skill as great entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Everybody welcome to know that episode of buts Omi Hols,
Brandon Butler found the CEO of butter atl And today
we got somebody special in the building, the one only
mister Brandon Chubb. If do not disturb you got two
brands up in here. Man, how you feel?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm good man?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How are you good? I'm good man. Okay, We're gonna
have to make sure we do this right because you know,
people they know what's branding. Were talking about.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
We're in your world, So you're the brand and I'm
usually the Chubb.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Right, So I had Chubb And because brand is such
a common name, and you know, when I hear Brandon.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
In this setting, I know is you first, and then
I'm a look and if it's me, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Cool okay. So for those who's watching, I'm the one
without the muscles. So look, Brendan man, we got connected
through my got tied shot the Union fit hub Man,
you're doing some amazing workout here in Atlanta. We do
not disturbing everything else, but we do something specially here
on button Nomics. You know, I'm sure familiar with chat cheept.
So one of the things we do is we like
to ask chat ChiPT to write a bio and I
(01:25):
like to read it to the people that come on
and you tell me, is chat off on? You know
what I'm saying, because I don't know if you ever
like look yourself up on chat before, probably google yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Use chat GBT a lot. So I'm interested to see what.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Okay, this is what it came back with, it says.
Brandon Chubb is a former NFL linebacker turned wellness entrepreneur,
investor in community advocate. After retiring from professional football, Brandon
recognized the gap between the elite wellness experiences provide the
athletes and what was accessible to everyday people, especially in Atlanta.
The realization led him to co found Do Not Disturb,
a a mere wellness studio located in Atlanta and as
(02:00):
iconic poncity market. With Do Not Disturb, Brandon aims to
transform how the city approaches self care, physical recovery, and
mental clarity make an elite level wellness accessible and relatable.
In addition to his wellness endeavors, he also serves as
the Player Director for the NFL Players Union, where he
advocates for a personal and professional well being of athletes
during after their NFL careers. He is also the co
(02:21):
founder of Captain Partners, in Atlanta based venture capital firm
dedicated to supporting diverse entrepreneurs and innovative startups. Across his ventures,
Brandon brings intentionality, cultural insight, and community first mindset, leveraging
his NFL experience as an entrepreneuri vision to positively impact
the culture, wellness, business, and community of Atlanta and beyond.
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well said humbly. Well said, yeah, you got a lot
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Man's that's very very intriguing, right, how far technology has come.
And I wonder if it was pulling from my memory
because I do a lot of prompts for D and
D of you know, newsletters or you know, just thinking
about different problems.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Also with captain partners, also with the like that's that's impressive.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, so I'm gonna tell you there's a thing that was.
There was a thing. You know, a lot of people
don't know I was. I was. I was a techie
in a former life, so I mess around with all
this stuff. There was actually something that came out the
other day. It said, if you've ever shared a chat
with somebody, like you know, you actually like share chat
GBT chats. Yeah, if you actually share it and you
don't change the settings, it's public and it can be
found on Google. There's a certain search you can do,
(03:24):
so like people like going around like searching for like,
you know, husband and like wife and like divorcing because
a lot of people, I guess they're like writing out
the centers to their friends. Like so it's not gonna
find your personal stuff. But if you've been sharing anything,
you just got to make it private relse it can
show up on Google.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Just f y good to know. I pay that twenty
dollars description I'm under utilizing chat BT.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
That's why some people look, Yeah, y'all using that one
man you got you gotta.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Get twenty dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I know a lot of law firms that tell their
employees like, don't upload sensitive information. Yeah, because of that
memory aspect. But that's interesting, Yeah, man, it definitely makes sense.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Absolutely, man, So tell me, like, what was it? What
was the moment when you kind of realiz is it
the Willess community, especially what you doing was an athlete
was actually like a business opportunity.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Twenty nineteen, I retired. Twenty twenty one, I started working
for the NFL Players Association. This is in the midst
of COVID as well, and I still had the same body,
I still had the same needs at two acls in
the league, so being able to recover was a paramount
thing for me and a priority. And then also with
the NFLPA, I travel fifty sixty percent of my time
(04:25):
for work.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So you're crunched up.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
On an airplane, You're in a hotel that probably doesn't
have an ideal gym, doesn't have any type of recovery,
You're sleeping not in your bed right up at the
early hours in ubers, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And a lot of the travels in New York.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Jets Giants are two of my teams, and when I'm
in New York, man, it's like you could do anything.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I call New York the playground. Right.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
They had these wellness studios a fault. This entrepreneur named
Stephen Truck, he has s ten training up in Chelsea,
and probably around this same time he was building out
this recovery studio ancillary to his gym. Right, so he
trains like these high end New York clients like models
and rappers and things like this. And he built these
(05:09):
like private suites that had an infrared signa had a
tub that you could pull with ice, or you could
do just a warm bath with like epps and salt
or whatnot.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
And the esthetic was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And so when I would go to New York, I'd
always stop in his place just to get my recovery
session in trying to emulate anything I could from what
I had as a player.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I played at weight for US for five years and
then four years in the NFL. All these facilities had
right outside our locker room asauna, cold plunch. You had
the training room, massage table, a chiropractor came every other day, right,
so you had this at your fingertips. And once you're
no longer an athlete, you no longer have access. So
my point being, I was going to New York, let's
(05:48):
call it, every other month, going to S ten doing
the recovery stuff, and I would come back home and
be like, damn, like, it's nothing like this here. So
if I wanted to do that, I would have to
go to at the time JJU just to sit in
the code up. Then I would have to go to
I have a YMCA membership in Bucket. I would go
there to sit in the sauna. I would go to
(06:08):
Floasis to sit in the float tank, and then I
would do a house call for a massage. Should get
the massage aspect and one that's not feasible, right we
talked about before this podcast started death by a thousand cuts,
but then two like you only got twenty four hours
in a day. If you're sleeping ten hours of that,
right and working another eight to nine hours of that,
you don't have time to do four hours of wellness.
(06:29):
And so the inspiration from the New York trips and
also seeing the white space in Atlanta, I understood that
there was a need for this. And then post pandemic
Mackenzie did a study people are prioritizing wellness more than ever,
and the definition of wellness has changed. Right, It's less
about how strong I am or how how many ABS
I have, and it's more about like do I feel
(06:50):
great when I wake up? Can I go to bed
on time? Am I crashing at two pm? How many celsius?
Can I not drink today?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
To make it through the day and then also be
able to like double down on wellness tourism. So for me,
when I go travel, I'm picking a hotel and I'm
looking at their pictures of the gym online because I'm like,
if it's just you know, ad hoc gym with elliptical
and weights that go up to twenty five pound dumbells,
(07:19):
I probably can't get a work out there, right, So
like what does the gym look like? And then the
second thing is is they have a spa? What's in
the spa? Is it or a sign in the spa? Do
they have a cold tub or a code bath in
the spa?
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Right?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Those are all main value points for me when I
book my travel, and a lot of this through Marriott
to try to keep the BOMBO points up. But like
if there is a hotel that is a differentiator with
their amenities, then I will literally forfeit the opportunity to
accumulate bomboid points and go spend at that hotel. My
point being a lot of people also are doing wellness
(07:53):
tourism where they're staying or doing a staycation or visiting
a city, and they want all these amenities in their hotel.
And so yeah, I think twenty thirty the status out
wellness tourist will be a one point six twenty dollars market.
So do not disturb. How could we give the public
access to wellness all under one roof? And then also
being an ideal location light Pont City Market where you
(08:15):
have the flats residents right above us, you have Signal
House right next door, you have Scout short term apartment
rentals in the parking lot. And then right across Old
four Ford Park you got Northern Line, you got glenn
Iris Lofts, you got all these other places that can
benefit from us being an amenity right so residential amenity,
(08:36):
tourism amenity, hotel amenity, and then also just being in
a high dissed area where you have foot traffic, where
you have people visiting off the belt line because they're
health conscious and they just got to run in or
they just did a workout at Union fit or the
form and being able to attract all those demographics to
(08:56):
give them a place to one call home feel inclusive
with it. And that's the community angle and why we
prioritize community, but also have it elevated where now they're
taking wellness from a proactive approach and not reactive. We
don't look or feel like a doctor's office, right, and
I think that's a very reactive setting, right. We're not
sterile and white walls and very minimalistic. You come and
(09:20):
do not disturb, and you feel like you're in Italy
or France, you name it, right, You put yourself in
that position of where this brings you to. But also
because it's elevated, you want to stay well even if
you're not hurt. You want to just stay on top
of your wellness. You want to just get a massage
and continue to feel great starting off the weekend versus
I rolled my ankle and pick a ball, let me
go sit in a codeub. That's a very reactive approach,
(09:42):
and so we built it intentionally with that in mind
to make sure that one we're attracting all these demographics.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
But then two, it feels like your third space. It
feels like your amenity to your apartment building. It feels
like that's the reason.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You told Scout Hotel instead of the four seasons or
instead of the fourth across the street, because you can
walk downstairs a D and D And I think that
is the inspiration behind it and why I want it
to be in wellness to the forefront, especially in my
backyard of Atlanta. You know, the South is not wellness
for it or really health conscious. And I think the
trend and the tailwinds will start making its way down here.
(10:17):
But we wanted to do it in a way that
one we're the premier studio, like chat GBT said, but
also doing it at a way that we can bring
our own culture to it. When you think a Nike, right,
I'm wearing Nikes right now. Are they the most comfortable shoe?
Probably not, But my favorite rapper was wearing Forces. My
favorite athlete, Mike Vick, was a Nike athlete, right, Like
(10:39):
growing up, Nike was the culture. So now when I
have disposable income, I still buy Nikes because I'm a
part of that culture and I want people to see
do not disturb as that culture when it comes to wellness,
not just I have to do it, it's a I
want to do it. I want to be associated with
D and D instead of the three other places I
could go to get the similar offerings.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, I mean, like to your point, culture is definitely
the culture is definitely moving towards more wellness. I think
more health, you know, people to be more conscious of it.
They're making decisions based off of it. I love what
you talk about with like even wellness tourism, right, Like
the fact that people are starting to look at even
the amenities these different hotels and stuff provide or know
what's around and like even if spot y'all are in,
like to your point, there's a lot of different residential
(11:20):
areas around there, so it's accessible because that's just for
those that don't know like that part of Atlanta, you know,
to kind of move around those spaces. You don't really
necessarily need a car inside all spaces too, right, So
it's walkable as accessible, and like those are the kind
of places that we need, not just in Atlanta, but
like you know, in our communities all over here. So
let me ask you, like, where does the name do
not Disturb come.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
From, Yeah, going back to the NFLPA experience, Like I'm
always on call.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I can't turn my phone off and put in on
do not to sturby?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Where else I'll come back to five miss texts and
probably ten miss emails, right, Like, there's some urgency to
what I do. So how can I mentally have a
restorative escape and a physical escape. I can go into
a space that has wellness all under one roof, pick
what I want to do, and we have services that
are as little as thirty minutes. You could be up
(12:08):
there in you know, three hours time and be out.
But how could I give myself a restorative space to
put my body on do not disturbed, put my mind
on do not disturbed? Because I necessarily can't do it
with my phone, So I cannot physically get into a
space where they do not disturbed setting, you know, just
turns on and then as soon as I walk out,
I'm back into the real world.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I'm back into the hustle bust.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Of Atlanta and pot City Market and whatever the day's
journey you know, has in store for me.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
And so that's really where the name came from. And
being able to physically embody that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
In an elevated place that kind of speaks for itself.
You know there's places that have speakers in assignas or
TVs in the room. We want you to literally be
with your thoughts and be in the comfort and tranquil
oasis of what we design so that you can't hit
that restorative aspect of wellness too, not just the physical
(13:00):
recovery and the physical wellbeing of it.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You know, you mentioned working at the NFLPA is the
player directly, Like for those don't know, like what does
that role entail? But then also how does your work
with players kind of influence what you're doing with D
and D.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, so what that role is.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I'm a liaison essentially between the locker rooms that represent
an NFLPA headquarters. Right, So everything we do is governed
by a collective bargaining agreement. Our next CBA aspires in
twenty thirty so the current one we are on has
four hundred and five hundred pages of compliance benefits all
these things that we negotiate with with the NFL. So
(13:47):
one is keeping players aware of that disseminating information. We
have annual team meetings that we go to all thirty
two ball clubs. But then also it's addressing real time
concerns right, real time benefit questions, real times or compliance
issues with the clubs and how long they can practice right.
And as a union we fight for three things. Wages,
working hours, working conditions. So it's making sure that we're
(14:09):
aligned with the NFL clubs that are one putting on
these practices and scheduling these schedules for the players in
season and off season, but also making sure they're getting
paid the minimum salary or getting paid things that are
digressive to the union for the people who sacrifice before them,
and also enhancing our current gains right, making sure our
members are a collective body of people who are all aligned.
(14:34):
That doesn't mean we all have to agree on the same thing,
but all aligned and informed on NFLPA and union business.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
And then how does that influence how you look at
D and D.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So it just gives me more access to be in
the buildings to see the innovative technology on the wellness
side that these clubs, with these state of the arc
locker rooms are continuing to build.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And what is that the forefront of wellness?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
What is the forefront of innovation and recovery and just
getting a first person POV. My interaction with the players
is all strictly union business, right. It has nothing to
do with D and D or any of my other endeavors.
But it does get me into a locker room that
when I was last there in twenty nineteen versus what
it looks like in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
You see that difference.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Difference, right.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
And then NFLPA we do an annual scorecard where the
members all ranked their clubs on facilities, cafeteria.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Oh yeah, I've seen it. It's like the Falcons just
got one, like like great facilities or something like beautiful.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I was at Flowery Branch yesterday, beautiful locker room because
of that scorecard. Right. But when I did a pro
day at Falcons in twenty sixteen, that locker room like
what I saw yesterday, Right. And so it's making sure
that you know, I'm as an entrepreneur also having my
ear to the street and seeing what is implemented in
these world class facilities for these world class athletes and
(15:53):
being able to say, all right, we're on the right track,
We're doing X, Y and Z the right way, and
making sure the public has access to that through because
they can't go to Flowery Branch, Yeah, because they can't
go to two to two Republic Drive, Allen Park, Michigan, right,
or whatever facility that is out there.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, that's good, But I'm gonna say, man, like, when
you say world class and lead athletes, knuckle line, sounds
expensive and I know that's something that y'all kind of
balance and manage out too, right, So like, how do
you kind of balance to make sure that it's still
accessible to the general republic because who didn't play in
the league, who didn't make a bunch of money, who
don't you know, have it? They're just you know, normal
everyday people, right, Like, how do you make sure it's
(16:28):
still accessible to them while kind of still keeping that
premium feel too.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think the biggest part of accessibility is feeling included,
feeling inclusive.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Right when you go in to do not disturb, you
feel the culture.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
We don't have hashtag black owned anywhere, we don't advertise
it being a black owned business, but you feel that
from our practitioners, to our employees, to the way we
do business. I think feeling inclusive of a brand is
one point of accessibility. The second point is our business
model was underwrit to be able to have a certain
price point and a certain membership model and other ancillary
(17:07):
lines of revenue. Right, so there's a membership cohort that
is a sizable chunk of our business.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And you talked about Concity market.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
People don't really have cars there. Moniker is internally is
like if they can walk, they could be a member
because they can come frequent they can utilize the services,
they can take advantage of the unlimited membership, they can
take advantage of the base membership, which is four times
a month, and so that is one part of the
business that allows the rest of the parts to have
(17:39):
a little bit more will go room. Right, So one
off session starts at forty five dollars. Fifty minute sessions
is sixty bucks. First timers get twenty five percent off.
If you're a member, it pays for your membership, pays
for yourself after a second visit, right, and then members
also receive fifteen to twenty percent off depending on what
tier you are on all.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Our ancillary services.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So if I'm an unlimited member, I'm getting twenty percent
off on the side at one hundred and thirty five bucks,
we're talking about you know, one hundred and five dollars massage, right,
And so that is another way to drive value by
also making people feel like, all right, this is a
place for me and not having gimmicky stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
A lot of places you might go to might have
a three hundred thousand dollars red light bed or two
hundred thousand dollars hyper barriage chamber. And if I don't
feel validated in that amenity being or that piece of
equipment being of value add to the wellness ecosystem we've built,
then it's not implemented, right, because those things are also
(18:35):
a part of your business model that you have to
underwright of how how can I get the ROI back
on that float tank? And for example, right, and then
using float tanks as an example because it's really real
life example.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
But our current massage room was built.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
In the construction documents to be a float tank room
with two float tanks. Float tanks are around fifty sixty
thousand dollars, So that's one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
of equipment for you know, three hundred square feet. I
did four or five dinners in our space when it
was just a white box with just people in the
community reaching out before we opened on LinkedIn and saying, hey,
(19:10):
like doing this founder dinner.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Who wants to join me.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'll cater some food, come check out and learn what
I'm trying to build that do not disturb.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
And this was probably nine months leading up to before
we opened.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
So we had four or five of these, and I
had a projector I would put on the white wall
and it would just go through all the renderings that
the architect had designed and I would kind of just
walk through people through the vision, right like, this relax
room is going to be in this corner we're standing
in one of the private contrast suites.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
That float tank.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Room will be behind this wall that we're going to demolition,
that bathroom will be right here, and these columns will
be hidden and moving throughout the space so you won't
even notice we got three columns in our suites. And
my point of doing that was want to get real
time feedback, get real time reaction, understand and talk to
potential customers and just the consumer at large. And one
(19:59):
thing I got from that was I would say we
have saunas, code plunges and float tanks and everybody'd be like, Oh,
that's cool, but what's the float tank?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
I heard that like ten times, and I.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Was like, well, maybe I shouldn't be spending one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars on float tanks because what is
the ROI and what is the real opportunity to really
make that back and then have some margin on top,
and so things like that. Intentional decisions but also doing
the work, going out into the field and really talking
to people allowed your question for us us to not
have a two hundred thousand dollars piece of equipment that
(20:32):
we now have to pass on to the consumer, which
allows us to be a more accessible which allows us
to have very competitive pricing amongst our competitors. But also
you're still paying for the esthetic and the environment and
the intentionality. But it's not a two hundred percent difference.
It might be a five percent difference, right. And another
(20:53):
one was I was just talking an entrepreneur that we
were bouncing around Atlanta today showing her different things. He's
allowing her to get insight from other entrepreneurs on she
wanted to open up a brick and mortar, and she
asked me a question on the way here, She was like,
what was one of your mistakes?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
And for me, it was our pricing model.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
To your point, I was naive to what the consumer
and the consumer behavior in Atlanta was. Again, this do
not dis third model, like the esthetic and the way
it looks and even the way it's built out was
based off of business in Chelsea, right, and Chelsea disposable
income and Atlanta disposable income or worlds apart. New York's
(21:39):
a different beasts, right, And so one thing I was
naive to was the price point. He was charging one
hundred dollars for fifty minutes or one hundred and five
dollars for fifty minutes for the same private contrast, room
we charged sixty dollars for. But grand opening was August sixteenth.
I had a grand opening party, family and friends August fifteenth,
(21:59):
and our membership price was double what it is right now.
That night, I couldn't go to sleep, and I was like,
I think our pricing is too high, five hundred dollars memberships.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't think anybody has an appetite for that. And
again it goes.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Back to really being outside, talking to people, being where
your feet are beating the street, because that family or
friends event that night before, you have your closest supporters, right,
If anybody's gonna support you is those people in that room.
And I would say, our memberships are this or that's
(22:33):
how much it costs to this because people ask like, oh,
what's a membership or things like that, and you could
just read their body language. So he'd be like, how
much is a membership? And I would say, you know,
unlimited is five hundred dollars. Our base membership four times
a month is three hundred dollars. Cool, how much does
a T shirt? Right?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
That's the response you would get. And you know, as
a self aware person, you have enough of those responses
and enough of those reps that night that it kept
me up till three in the morning the next the
next day, right, And so slash our memberships in half
because I realize we're not New York. Our prices are
New York based, and we're not a New York business. Right.
(23:13):
The Atlantic consumer and the behavior is different. And so
all these are intentional, but also self aware of the
naivity that I came into the business with, and also
addressing that in real time, still listening to customers, we
have secret shoppers at D and D all the time
I've been consultant Darnelle Presley. We get people in and
we got a survey that says, hey, this is how.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Much this cost. What are you willing to pay for it?
This is how much our memberships are. It's this price
too high or too low. If it's too high, what
is the price that you think would be palatable? And
things like that are real quantifiable data that now we
can go and look at our price and model and say, oh,
we weren't way off like we thought we were. This
product is great and the people are willing to pay
for it. So let's just continue to double down on
(23:55):
what we're doing, continue to build D and D, continue
to bring community forward, and you.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Know, you'll you'll you'll reap the benefits of that later
down the road.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yeah, man, I mean you know what you're what you're
talking about is the idea of again customer feedback and
just iterating on ideas, and I mean that applies. I
think it applies against across all businesses because a lot
of times too with founders, if you're not careful, you
kind of build something in a silo, and you know,
for lots of different reasons, Like I think one of
the biggest reasons people tend to do it is because
there's phrase somebody's gonna take the idea to run off
with it. I'm like, nobody's gonna take your idea for
(24:23):
the most part. But being able to get that feedback
to your point and really help you building something that
actually you know people want, Like at the end of
the day, that's also really the definition of marketing. It's
like doing that work, that research, kind of figuring out
what it is and until you can get that right
product market fit. Because if not, you can do all
that stuff and pull all this stuff together. But all
of a sudden, if it's like this big reveal, I
(24:44):
kind of call it the big bang, right, people are like, well,
I didn't really want that, I didn't really need it
like that, and you actually find out I actually just
wanted this thing. You're like, that could to your point,
like you use like the examples with the the float
the float bands like like, yeah, you could spend that money,
but people but yeah, I also gotta edge people they're
not necessarily looking for that. They might be looking for
that in other markets, but is Atlanta that kind of
(25:04):
market where people are really looking for that kind of service,
and because you didn't invest in that, that able you
to help manage the cost. So you have to pass
that on. But had you been ahead and made that investment,
because you hadn't had those conversations, because you hadn't brought
in people from the community, like, then again you would
have been in a whole different situation.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And so just the lesson for this for people that
are just building stuff in general is to make sure
you're talking to your customers and not just waiting until
the end because you had the ability to still talk
to them while you kind of still had that white
box approach, right, and you were like, actually, you know,
we could always always say you can make it more
complex later.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It's like my mom, so you can always put more
more seasoned in it, exactly, but you can't take it out.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Yeah, I love it, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
So it's like that's a lesson that you learned, yea.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
And it was a great lesson because massage just now
what that room is being utilized for, yeah, is on
a her margin basis our most popular service and our
most valuable service. And I'm glad that I had the humility,
but also the four site to be able to iterate
in real time.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
And what does that look like for brick and mortar.
It's being able to your point at the seasoning.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Later you can always add more, but you can't put
the toothpaste back into tube, right. And this is you know,
build out calls, construction, general contractors permits like so this
is a real intentionality that you have to have so
you don't get to that point where now you're just
sitting on something that's burning.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
A hole in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
And so I was, you know, grateful to have entrepreneurs
that I could listen to, whether in real life and
have conversations like we're having right now or podcast or
you know. I was in business school when I built
this idea and was creating this and building out with
architects and signing leases and things like that, so I
was able to workshop this through classes. I was able
(26:46):
to also talk to two hundred other students who were
like minded and had diverse opinions and then diverse minds
right like I'm with mckensey consultants and baning consultants and
private equity guys and ETA guys who want to buy
a business from a small business owner, right, And so
being able to really workshop this in real time was
really a blessing because a lot of people don't have that.
(27:08):
And to your point, going through that entrepreneurship like journey
and learning, you also learn that, like, no one's really
gonna steal your business idea. They may be, but this
is my baby and it's hard. So unless they really
care about it, just because it's a great idea doesn't
mean someone's gonna want to do it exactly, because that
shit's hard and it's a lot of sacrifice and it's
(27:28):
a financial investment, it's a mental investment, it's a social investment,
and so like unless they really really are passionate about
it like you and really care, they're probably going to
be like.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Damn, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
There will is more to spend for like five minutes,
and they're gonna be like, fuck it, I don't want
to do it. Right, And you still have that still
visibility to get the real time feedback, so stealth mode
isn't always the best.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Now, you also do some stuff with the Captain Partners
you keept in the VC. You do some stuff like that,
like like what did you kind of learn through that
journey of just investing, like what do you look for
in founders and companies that involved in but what do
you also kind of learned about business as you've gotten
more involved in this.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, So we started investing through SPVs special purpose Vehicles.
And the catalyst for that was I was on my
way out the league. But also realize one the word
private equity wasn't even in my vocabulary until I was
two years removed from college. And then once I learned
(28:36):
what the word private equity meant, I was like, Ah,
this is how people get to afford to get their
children to wait for us. Right, this is how people
get to afford nice houses or this ecosystem that private
equity opens up, Right, this is the play. And so
I wanted to be a part of that. And I
saw the locker room as like one of the largest
concentrations of capital. Right, if you think about the salary cap,
(28:58):
I think this year, the salary cap has two orldren
and six t two million dollars, fifty three guys in
that locker room combined, or making two hundred and sixty
two million dollars of salary. Right, That's how I thought
about it, and so one that was an angle, but
then two at the same time, this is twenty nineteen,
Whooped the wearable and these other like innovative tech wearables
(29:19):
were starting to hit the locker room. I remember Whooping
twenty nineteen was coming through with the NFLPA was coming
through and just dropping woop straps. In the middle of
the locker room was Saint here Trott's right. And Tonal was
another company that was coming out around that time, and
I remember seeing a meta ad on Instagram and Tonal
wasn't even advertising the product. They were advertising that Steph
Curry and Kevin Durant were investors. Yeah, So I was like,
(29:42):
all right, well, you have this cohort of guys who
have a large allocation of capital at a young age,
so they're not that risk averse. They can take big swings,
which venture capital entails. And then you also have this
platform where founders want to meet athlete. Athletes can be
value additive to these sports tech wearable companies because they
(30:06):
could be product testers, they could be free promo. They
can essentially the endorsement model that marketing entails, but with equity, right,
and so me and my buddies put our capital together
did twelve SPVs invested in these innovative tech companies and
so that's how Captain Partners started. My co founder was
a Captain with me at wait for us, Jordan Garside,
(30:27):
and so that's the name Captain. And what I learned
from that is like, founders are the sauce, right, Like,
you got the best idea in the world. If your
execution i e. Your founding team isn't great, it's gonna
fall flat on his face. I'm reading super Punk right
now for the second time. And Uber wasn't the first
(30:47):
ride sharing company. It was zimmer Ride and it was
I think called super Cab or something like that. It
was like two other competitors that were doing peer to
peer riode sharing. Uber was just doing black cars and
then Travis Travis, the CEO, set in a zimmer Ride
one day and was like, oh, we need to be
doing Peter peer right. So my point being the founder
(31:08):
or the founders and the founding team are really the magic.
And then also understanding market dynamics, right, like sometimes you're
just too early or sometimes you're late to the dance, right.
And there's a plethora of companies that had ideas that
are now thriving today. They were just five years ahead
of time or they were five years past the past
(31:29):
the mark, and so really doubling down on founders and
then also understanding like the marketing dynamic or market dynamics,
and so now taking that into my entrepreneur venture and
we're not a startup, right, We're not on this crazy
y Combinator growth rate where we got to grow three
percent week over week or have this you know, crazy metric,
because we're also not venture capital bats, so they're not
(31:52):
expecting hockey stick returns. But at the same time understanding
that the train starts and starts with me and not
saying that I'm the reason that dn D is a
great experience, because I don't want to be the magic.
I don't want you to come and do not disturb
because you might run into Brandon. I want you to
come and do not disturb because you understand the product
and you love the product. But I also understand that
(32:13):
I got to lead a team of five people plus
a manager to understand the same value a mission and
vision that I built do not disturb with when they
have no incentive.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
To care, right, Like, it's just it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Right, small business, like they have no incentive to care
as much as I do and they never will. But
understanding that I can at least give guardrails and eliminate
the gray to allow them to flourish to the best
at their execution to perform what we need to perform,
one of those being a hospitable environment. I want you
to come and do not disturb and feel like you
just checked in at the RITZ, right. I want you
(32:47):
to come and do not disturb and go to the
rooms and realize, like, wow, that was a great experience
and it felt clean, and it felt like this was
just built yesterday.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
I want you to go to the massage room.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
And be like, he has the two, three, four best
besides their I've ever got my massage by whether I'm
a ballerina or an NFL football player or six nine
basketball player or you know, a seventy two year old
senior citizen. Right, And being able to have a service
for everyone that everyone can feel included and feel like
they got value out of So the investing experience has
(33:18):
just made me so much more aware of the founder
right or founders?
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, absolutely, man, I mean again, it sounds like y'all
doing something really amazing over there. Like you think, as
more and more players you know, come through the league
and start looking for their next opportunities, do you see
more players getting involved in things like investing in entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yeah, investing for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
You see a lot of that with NBA players just
because of the contract sizes, but even NFL guys or
starting their own vcs or doing a lot of angel investments.
I also do believe that athletes, especially professional athletes, because
of what it's to get there, are a thousand percent
apt with the intrinsic and intangible skills, characteristics and qualities.
(34:02):
They have to be great entrepreneurs. Right, because you know
about resilience, You know about law term gains and not
instantaineous gratification. You understand you're going to fall more times
than you jump, right. You understand discipline and how to
stick to a goal even when it doesn't look like
it's working out.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
You understand punctuality right, as trivial as that is. You
understand how to be present and show up and be
on time. I remember in college coach classon our head coach,
she had this thing called deacon time, which means me
starts at seven am. It really starts at six forty five, right,
Deacon time is fifteen minutes early. And even at six
forty five, the last person that comes to that meeting
(34:45):
is also late, right because the meeting has already started.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Everyone else is here. And so things like that that
are just like intrinsically within us allows us to also
have that transferable skill as great entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
And I was actually and I want to I'm.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Curious your thoughts, but I was actually talking to someone
when D and D at first opened because I was
always there.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Right, you're still building a team.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I want to be present to hear customer feedback in
real time and really understand what is going on, how
the customer journey differs than the customer journey that was
in my mind. What are some gaps that because it's
my baby, I don't see that customers would be obvious to,
but I'm oblivious to.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
And my point being.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Because I have that athlete mindset, like it had to
be perfect.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
You know, I wore myself to the bone.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I really burnt out right, and it's just because I
wanted to take exactly how I became an NFL football
player and do it as a business owner, and I
think there has to be some type of balance because again,
we're just so apt to be able to do this.
Like I was playing football at six years old with
the mindset I'm playing in the NFL. That's like a
(35:56):
point zero zero one percent chance of all six year
olds that have that same thought might be even smaller
than that. But for some reason, even as a two
star recruit out of Hillgrove High School going to wait Forest,
the smallest Power five school in the country, being a
red shirt, and then not starting my freshman year, and
then somehow being a three year starter and then going
undrafted to the NFL. Right like all these it could
(36:19):
have ended at any moment moments, and I still persevered,
right Like that has something to do with what you
can be as an entrepreneur. And I'm not the only
athlete that's gone through that, right, It's a lot of
people that are in that same position, which is why
I think a lot of athlete led businesses and founded
businesses will continue to sprout up and will become more
(36:40):
ubiquitous because athletes are also understanding and more adapt or
more apt and aware of this game could be taken
from me at any moment, especially football one hundred percent
contact sport, one hundred percent injury rate.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Right, Like, I again, I'm a wait foresce. I'm in
the wait Force Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
And I went undrafted and then I never got hurt
in college, never saw a training room. And then my
first or my second OTA practice and the NFL for
the Detroit Lions, I tear my ACL and then I
do it again two years later in Carolina, Right, Like,
can't predict that. It's no crystal ball. Right, if I
told me that at eighteen that that would happen, I'd
(37:15):
be like, Oh, that's not me.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I've never been hurt.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
Right, But then also understanding that, like I got forty
more years to make money, Like if this ends at
twenty six, I got forty more years where I still
got to find a dying right, and so how can
I set myself up? And my point being, I think
athletes are more aware of that now because a lot
more visibility is put through podcasts or documentaries on this,
(37:38):
but also because they're now entrepreneurs per se in college,
they're willing and dealing on nil deals, They're understanding their leverage,
they're understanding their platform and what they bring to these
universities or these NFL clubs or professional clubs that they're
playing for. And so now they're having more of a
transitive mindset to say, all right, what am I doing next?
(38:01):
I could play for ten more years or ten more weeks,
what am I doing next? And being able to really
affect their own destiny.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Well again, and I think for a long time too,
people have hurt the narratives. You know, they've heard the
stats about oh, you know, this is what happens in
athletes have careers, and I mean, look, these guys, these
a lot of these guys are very smart. They're very
aware of this stuff. And again, and that might have
been how it had been for a while, that might
have been a trend. But if anything, I would argue
to say, like it's probably trending downwards because people are
(38:27):
more aware because the parents who are helping to get
these kids into schools and into the league and opportunities,
they're also aware and they're also doing things. So I think, yeah,
the day of the like the athlete just kind of
like not knowing what's going on and being taken advantage of.
I mean, you're going to have situations that happened. But
I think there's definitely just more awareness and people to
the same point they're saying theirselves, Okay, like look, I
know the stats, I know that, you know, this is
(38:49):
a finite time which I'm be able to do this.
I'm able to do it longer. That's great, But like
to your point, what am I going to do the
next twenty thirty forty years? Right, Like, what am I
going to spread that out versus traditional people that again
that are work and kind of like have a longer life,
longer life span when it comes to their career, and
that there's definitely you know, second and third lives after that.
And I think people are you know, especially now with
Nils and everything else, they're they're treating this thing like
(39:10):
a business. They're understanding that even what they're doing and
they're playing a game that's a business, and they're kind
of transitioning out man. So no, like it's a lot
more awareness. Like let me ask you man, as we
get reaised, like start wrapping us up, like like what
do you think that what do you want people to
experience when they come into D and D that they
can't find anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
First, I mean our mission is creating a tranqui oasis
where a community can develop a wellness routine and prioritized wellness.
What I want your experience as soon as you walk
through those doors is I'm no longer in pot City Market,
let alone Atlanta. I'm in again France. I mean wherever
your mind takes you. And then also understanding that I
(39:50):
am at the control of my own health and wellness right,
and so being empowered to want to do contract right
Soigna and co Plunch, being empowered to want to do
iv therapy, being empowered to want to get a massage,
and feeling like there is more that can come from this,
(40:12):
right from the health side, from the wellness side, from
the social side, from the longevity side. And I want
people to realize that this can be something that's ubiquitous
as a gym, right, Like we've evangelized fitness to the
point like it's almost a no brainer that you have
to have a gym membership. When I walked in here today,
I said, where you work out? Right, you never brought
(40:35):
up fitness or anything. I just assumes you had a
gym membership. Everyone has a gym membership, and so I
think in you know next half decade or so, everyone
will have a wellness membership, and I want them to
feel empowered, to feel like one, I can develop a
wellness routine and prioritize it just as much as I
prioritize lifting weights or running on the treadmill. But two,
(40:55):
I want them to feel like they belong, like do
not disturbs an a franchise, yea, this isn't you know
some box. I got the playbook from someone else, and
I'm at the behest of their decisions and their rules
right Like, I want them to feel a part of
our community because everything we do, from the merch we
sell to what we retail, Like our candles is Lindwood Court.
(41:17):
She makes our fragrance and she's in Citizens Apply on
the second floor. A black owned woman own the water
we give away for free beauty water, black owned woman
own right like all these intentional decisions that aren't free
for us right in our call centers, but allow our
community to be a part of something bigger than just
the D and D experiences. I'm supporting other businesses through
(41:39):
D and D. I'm supporting other therapists and practitioners through
D and D, and I want that to be an
intrinsic thought when people walk through our double doors and
also when they leave our double doors. Right, I think
that's the most important part. I talk to my staff
all the time. It's like, you could be the most
hospitable person in the world. You can be great, you
can have a conversation with a wall, you can you
(41:59):
can be right. But if they go to that room
and the signa wasn't hot, or you know, the trash,
the towels from the last person was in there, like
that can kill everything you just built up. So I
also want people to feel like this is a world
class experience that allows for me to want to be
proactive and want to prioritize and want to develop a
routine because it's a place I feel like I can
(42:21):
do that and the consistency is there and the hospitality
is there.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
That's dope.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Man.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
We'll congratulations on building next space. I don't know, you
have to sec the space to open Juniper. So yeah,
as we get ready to wrap this up in and
tell them how can they support you, how can they
find D and D like, give them all the things.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
So do not disturb. We're at Pont City Market.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
We're on the ground floor facing North Avenue, So right
now's to Pancake Social in between Panca Social and the
leasing office, so come visit us. We also do not
disturb atl dot com is our website. You can book online.
If you book online, use code butter nomics. Okay, twenty
five percent off your first visit butter nomics, twenty five
percent off your first visit of a private contrast room,
(42:57):
fifteen percent off your first massage. So those are two
ways you can support us. Also, we have merch we
sell online now, so we have a Shopify account. We
have I think some of the most culturally relevant merch
that you don't wear just a support you wear because
it's cool. So you can find that on our website
as well. And then our Instagram is at do not disturb,
so follow share with your friends. We'll do many events
(43:21):
in the community that we'll be free, so you can
be a part of that as well. But I think
the biggest is, you know, just com pot City Market.
We validate parking level two and level three for up
to ninety minutes, so don't let that be at the turret.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
And then do not Disturb atl and do not Disturb Instagram.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Hey man, cold button Nomics. Use Cold button Nomics. Look man,
congratulations brand on everything. Man, it sounds like an amazing place. Look,
I'm little, I'm gonna go and check it out. And
I was started thinking about it like now, like yeah,
I need to go pull up over the.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, I told you. We've got that old four forward
pass right. So union fit as the gym arm and
wear the wellness arm. So whenever you go to hit
tie up again and get some reps in, come to
D and D right after it's a three minute walk
on the belt line.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
He sounds like a plan. Man, we'll look again. Congratulations
on everything, on all the great work you're doing. D
and D in with you much success. When that said,
y'all we out. That's the pod you've been listening to
button Nomics and I'm your host, Brandon Butler. Got comments, feedback?
Want to be on the show. Send us an email
today at hello at butternomics dot com. Butter Nomics is
produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by Ksey Pegram, with
(44:21):
marketing support from Queen and Nikki. Music provided by mister Hanky.
If you haven't already hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot Atl. Listen to
betteron Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Host
Brandon Butler
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